Fight or Flight
'' |image= |series= |production=40358-103 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Rick Berman and Brannon Braga |director=Allan Kroeker |imdbref=tt0572209 |guests=Jeff Rickets as ' Alien Captain' and Efrain Figueroa as ' Translator Voice' |previous_production=Broken Bow |next_production=Strange New World |episode=ENT S01E03 |airdate=3 October 2001 |previous_release=Broken Bow |next_release=Strange New World |story_date(s)=6 May 2151 |previous_story=Broken Bow |next_story=Strange New World }} Summary The Enterprise encounters an alien ship that is their first chance of first contact, but find hull breaches and no activity. Captain Archer, Ensign Sato, and Lieutenant Reed board the ship to investigate, and on the ship, Sato soon faces her fears. =Summary= It is May 2151, and the crew of Enterprise is settling in, and are slowly getting acquainted with one another. The crew is restless as they have not encountered anything new in the past two weeks: Captain Archer is trying to locate a squeak in his ready room and anxious that they have not discovered any worthwhile planets yet; Sub-Commander T'Pol points out that Vulcans don't select their destination by what piques their interest as they don't share humanity's enthusiasm for exploration; Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Mayweather are running weapons simulations which are slightly off; and in Sickbay, Ensign Sato cares for a slug brought back from an away mission. When T'Pol picks up a drifting Axanar vessel on sensors, Enterprise drops out of warp to investigate. The ship shows evidence of weapons fire and bio-signs but does not respond to hails. Archer is eager to make first contact with a new race, but T'Pol recommends non-interference. After discovering multiple hull breaches, an away team in EV suits is dispatched. The alien crew is soon found dead, suspended upside-down with tubes attached to their chests. Spooked, the away team retreat and Enterprise departs. Doctor Phlox and Sato discuss her fears over the incident, and draw parallels between her and the slug being out of their natural environment. Eventually, Archer decides to return to the ship. Phlox discovers the bodies are being harvested for a chemical similar to lymphatic fluid, whilst Commander Tucker restores communications and Sato decodes the Axanar language. When T'Pol warns Archer that a ship is approaching, the crew withdraws to Enterprise, but not before shooting the harvest pump. The alien vessel attacks, but Enterprise cannot return fire accurately due to problems with the targeting scanners. A second Axanar vessel arrives, and Sato persuades them that the alien ship was responsible. They then attack the hostile ship and Enterprise is saved. The episode ends with Sato and Phlox releasing the slug on a new planet. Errors and Explanations # The aliens modus operandi seems a little strange in this episode. If they wanted to collect triglobulin from the bodies, why leave them behind on the ship at all? Surely it would make more sense to take them with you, precisely to avoid having somebody stumble across them and interfere, as Archer does in this episode. There may not be room on their ship. In any case, they may be leaving the bodies behind on purpose, in order to try and unnerve the crews of any passing ships. # When Archer asks Hoshi if she transmitted his message on a rotated frequency, she says she will "try it again". But she only waits a grand total of four seconds before reporting no response. Archer's message was much longer than that, so Hoshi apparently gave up after the first couple of sentences. It should be possible to get a response as soon as the transmission started, especially if it is a repeat transmission. Nit Central # Derf on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 7:04 pm: The doctor and the linguist are on an apparent "argon rich" atmosphere planet to drop-off the life-form they spent the entire show keeping alive. WHY are they (or at least the linguist) NOT inside environment suits? Sparrow47 on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 7:27 pm: Well, we don't know what "argon-rich" means, do we? But it does seem unlikely they would be without their suits. Although I did notice that the bluescreened atmosphere behind Phlox's head in that scene looked entirely fake...PaulG on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 8:32 pm: No spacesuits in argon-rich atmosphere: This may be a matter of what defines "argon-rich". Our atmosphere is roughly 1% argon. If "argon-rich" means, say, 5% of the atmosphere, that may not be a problem for breathing if the oxygen level is sufficient. BTW, I have no idea what the safe level of argon is. # Aaron Dotter on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 7:05 pm: Did Phlox mention a Naussican? MarkN on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 1:25 am: Yes, he did. # I guess they really don't like the transporter- they don't use it to get over there and they don't use it to get out when the enemy is bearing down on them! Brian Fitzgerald on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 8:16 pm: For the sake of arguement, say the transporter has a 1 out of 100 chance of screwing up a lifeform that it transports. Using it to get Archer out when he's being chased by guys with guns and the ship is under attack is a reasonable risk. On the other hand using it every time you find some ship in the middle of space is not an acceptable risk. # Why did they have to be medically scanned when they came back? They didn't get out of their spacesuits. I guess it is standard procedure. This is probably to ensure nothing dangerous is brought back on the exterior of the suits. # Sato says she was second in her class, yet in the pilot she said she was the only person who could do what she does. Obviously this was an exaggeration.(I suppose the valedictorian might be an expert in something else, or Sato just botched one question which put her in 2nd.) PaulG on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 8:32 pm:''Sato 2nd in her class but the only one qualified: I am unsure about the quote from the pilot. However, there are a number of explanations for this. (1) Just because someone is #1 in the class does not necessarily mean he or she can apply it well outside of academia. (2) Some people simply test better than others despite true talent. (3) After graduating Sato pursued a different field than #1 and that later learning is what is needed. (4) #1 is dead. ''LUIGI NOVI on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 6:43 am: Who said the Hoshi and the class valedictorian had the same major? She majored in linguistics; the val could’ve majored in history, art, business, etc. You’re confusing being in the same graduating class with being in the same area of study. # That enemy ship gave them plenty of time to get ready for the attack. Why did they drop out of warp so early? Keith Ratliff on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 9:39 pm: The ship dropped out of warp far enough probably to gauge their enemy as they have never met them before. They may have met the other enemy, though. # Sparrow47 on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 7:08 pm: Hoshi complains that the stars are "going the wrong way" in her quarters. Does she mean the stars are going backwards, or what? And how can this bother her, really? The view from her port isn't exactly going to be bursting with light, as they're in the middle of space! It seems unlikely that this could affect her… PaulG on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 8:32 pm:''Sato window: While the stars should be moving in the same direction, it may be a matter of where the window is located. While that may sound silly, I have trouble sleeping in a new bed for the first day or so. Whether the stars are to port or starboard could make a difference. ''Sparrow47 on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 8:46 pm: Yes, granted, but the ship's been underway for a number of weeks now. And here's why the location of the window shouldn't matter: the thing that bothers most people when they're trying to sleep is light. If it's in the morning, and you're trying to go back to sleep with the light from a window beaming down on your face, you'll probably try to block it out with something. But there is no huge light source for Hoshi. Outside of the port is space, space, space. And space, despite the fact that there always seems to be some light source for the ships, even when they're not in a star system, is a rather dark, empty place. Jason on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 8:49 pm: I thought that she said that the stars were going the wrong direction. Instead of going from left to right, the stars are going right to left. At least when the ship is under power.PaulG on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 8:51 pm: Also, about Sato's bed, if the beds can't be moved and Sato has a preference where she puts her pillow (head away from door or near to door), it is possible that the beds one side of the ship face forward while on the other side the beds face aft. It's a matter of coming or going… Keith Ratliff on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 9:39 pm: Here is the explanation for the stars. Stand somewhere and face someone. Have them throw a ball at you. If it goes over your head, it is going straight at you. Now turn to the right. If they throw the ball in front of your face, it will go from left to right. Now turn to the left. If they throw the ball at you, it will go from right to left. By having the window on one side of the ship, it can determine which direction the stars are going. Switching to the other side will make them go the other way. Now, say you fell asleep every night to a planetarium that traced the orbit of planets on your ceiling. What if they suddenly reversed? You would be so bothered by the new direction (or I should say she would be) that falling asleep is difficult because you are now focused on that alone. Mikey on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 9:48 pm: That's one possible reason why someone would have trouble sleeping. So is not being able to sleep on a particular side of the bed. So is not being able to sleep because your head faces the wrong direction. Me? I have to sleep with legs cocooned by my sheets (to prevent the troll from grabbing my feet). And I can't face a window (to prevent the witche's eyes from enchanting me). None of these things have to do with the amount of light in the room. And all of it is psychological. So the fact that the stars move from left to right (and vice versa) may be significant in sparking Hoshi's insomnia. LUIGI NOVI on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 6:43 am: Falling asleep is often a matter of relaxation, which is psychological, so what helps each individual sleep can often be idiosyncratic. Harry Kim found that a nightmask helped. Geordi was shown sleeping in his uniform at least once. O’Brien needed a minimum of eight hours. To each his own. # SMT on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 7:09 pm: With all their concern to portray the Vulcans as logical and reserved, the creators seem to have forgotten another long-established trait of theirs: pacifism. Yet when that menacing ship approaches, T'Pol shows little hesitation in preparing to engage in combat. Sparrow47 on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 7:27 pm: I think T'Pol knows that she needs to defend the ship in this instance. Also I think she knows that now would not be a good time to annoy Archer, so she tries to emulate what he would do in that situation.LUIGI NOVI on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 6:43 am: Different people seem to have different definitions or connotations of pacifism. Pacifism, as it pertains to Vulcans, doesn’t necessarily mean allowing someone to fire at you and kill you without firing back. # Maquis Lawyer on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 7:46 pm: When Archer, Sato, Phlox and Trip returned from the ship, I didn't see them go through decontamination again. ltdodd on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 8:13 pm: They weren't put through decon a second time because there was nothing that contaminated them the first time. LUIGI NOVI on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 6:43 am: Either the crew scanned the Axanar ship’s atmosphere enough during the two away missions that they knew that there were no harmful organisms, or they did go that second time, but the episode simply didn’t show it. # Archer seems pretty nonchalant about Sato's performance on the first visit to the vessel. If one of my officers went to pieces on an away mission, I might re-think taking them along again. LUIGI NOVI on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 6:43 am: I think it depends on the circumstances, Lawyer. If the circumstances are understandable, I wouldn’t hold it against her. And if she’s assigned to an area of the ship other than where the Axanar bodies are, it should pose no problem. Archer probably made sure she was up to it. Seniram 16:48, September 3, 2018 (UTC) Maybe he wants to give her another chance. # TomM on Wednesday, October 03, 2001 - 10:11 pm: Does it make sense that Sato, who has an aversion to snakes and creepy things and to exotic adventure, should be the one who adopts sluggo as a pet? This could have been done as a form of therapy! # If the Nausicans are well known to at least a few of the races in the Vulcans' association (Phlox speaks of them casually), why are they apparently unknown in Kirk's time? They may have been incorrectly declared extinct, in a manner similar to the race that was 'rediscovered' by Captain Ransom. # William Berry on Thursday, October 04, 2001 - 2:45 am: My apologies to the people who brought it up before, but shouldn't they return to Earth soon. It's like Thurston Howell's trunk of money on a "three hour cruise". Tell the crew that they are going to be away for a week or so as they return Klang, and without returning home just go on an exploration mission. LUIGI NOVI on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 6:43 am: What do they need to return to Earth for? The ship was fully stocked, Starfleet said they were ready, why go back? Delivering Klaang was the Enterprise’s first mission, not its only intended one. You really think they built this ship as a one-time only taxi cab? :) # By the way, what is the population of Earth. Out of 6 billion people Hoshi is the only qualified linguist? LUIGI NOVI on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 6:43 am: She’s the most qualified one in Starfleet, and Archer seems to have known her for some time in the pilot. # Sparrow47 on Thursday, October 04, 2001 - 7:58 am: T'Pol says that Vulcans don't have a passion for exploration, and that's why the Vulcan star charts aren't very helpful. Yet she also says that only 1 out of 43,000 planets supports sentient life. Okay... so, how does she know that?LUIGI NOVI on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 6:43 am: That’s not what she said. She said the course Starfleet chose for the Enterprise was not in space that the Vulcans had a lot of info on. # Tom Balcom on Thursday, October 04, 2001 - 12:48 pm: During Hoshi's conversation with the Axanar captain, one of the reasons he thought that Enterprise was the enemy was that he could tell from DNA that the crew had been there two days before. First of all they were in environment suits, what kind of DNA were they leaving behind? LUIGI NOVI on Monday, February 09, 2004 - 11:11 pm: I would suggest that they left DNA on the exterior of their suits as they handled them when first putting them on while preparing to leave the Enterprise, which transferred to the Axanar ship when they boarded it. # Also, why couldn't he scan the real bad guy ship and see that their DNA was also on the crippled Axanar ship? LUIGI NOVI on Monday, February 09, 2004 - 11:11 pm: Perhaps the Axanar captain did notice this, and merely assumed that the Enterprise and the enemy ship were allies. # LUIGI NOVI on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 6:43 am: Scanning the scorch marks on the alien ship’s hull, T’Pol says the residue indicates oxidation and thermal shock effects. How can something oxidize in outer space, where there is no oxygen? margie on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 - 11:51 am: I learned about this the other day in chemistry class. Oxidation is when an element (or compound) loses electrons during a reaction. It used to just refer to reacting with oxygen, but not anymore. inblackestnight on Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 1:05 pm: Interesting, I didn't know that, but I just assumed the assaulting ship docked with that one and it had a larger hatch so their atmosphere came in contact with their hull. # Bioforce on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 6:23 pm: Okay, I just thought of this... They've been travelling for 2 weeks on Warp 5 and are already past the Vulcan star charts? The Vulcans have had warp drive for over a thousand years by this point. They've never gone this far? Gambit and Unification from TNG, as well as the Star Trek Chronology state that the Vulcan/Romulan split happened 2,000 years. I highly doubt they went from Vulcan to Romulus on impulse. So, The Vulcans have just never been out this far? It's a little absurd. Rene on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 6:46 pm: They are not past the Vulcan star charts. They are travelling on a course that the Vulcans never went on. William Berry on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 6:53 pm: I latched on to the Vulcans not being as much for exploration as us to explain a lot. The way T'Pol acts about the derelict not returning hails made me realize that they won't know about "homebody" species. (If they don't come up an introduce themselves to the Vulcans the Vulcans leave them be humans, of course.:)) Exploring can pay off in your learning something useful. It can also kill you. The humans see that glass half full and Vulcans see it as half empty. The way I see it (or IMHO) the Vulcans have a map of the interstate highways and Archer is using the back roads. Of course, I could just be real tired.:) Mikey on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 7:36 pm: It's no more absurd than saying Magellan (it was Magellan, right?) sailed around the world, yet he never went to the North Pole. As T'Pol would say, "Space is very big." It's unlikely that the Vulcans explored every inch of space no matter how far their warp engines took them. As for the Romulans... to my knowledge there has been nothing stated as to how the Romulans left Vulcans. Whether they piloted warp ships, used impulse ships, hitched a ride, or clicked their heels three times is pure conjecture. Anyway, I don't think the idea of non-warp capable generational ships is that doubtful. TomM on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 9:02 pm: My theory (hinted at in my last post on the Broken Bow board) is that when the Vulcans who were to become the Romulans left their home planet, those left had agreed never to follow. I suspect that is the real reason T'Pol was trying to discourage the crew from contacting the Axanar freighter: she was afraid that they would turn out to be Romulan or that they would know the Romulans. It is probably an underlying cause for the Earth-Romulan War being fought without either visual or personal contact. lolar windrunner on Friday, October 05, 2001 - 11:57 pm: According to the novel "The Romulan Way" (non-cannon i know) the romulan/vulcan split took place in high sublight multi-generation vessels that exposed the crew to time dilation. # TJFleming on Monday, October 15, 2001 - 11:28 am: On encountering the ship, Archer notes that it's not moving very fast (or words to that effect), and T'Pol says "It's not moving at all." Clearly, she's no Einstein! ScottN on Monday, October 15, 2001 - 12:32 pm: Neither is Archer. Neither of them specified a frame of reference. TJFleming on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - 7:18 am: Zackly! But the reason it's a nit for T'Pol and not for Archer is that humans characteristically use metaphor, hyperbole, etc., and that's OK when the meaning is clear in context. Thus, the human listener understands that he means the ship is adrift. Vulcans' speech, however, is precise and literal. So, unless T'Pol is just making an effort to be one of the boys, her reply shows her to be as big a fraud as Tuvok. # constanze on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 9:20 am: Okay, Merryweather is the most experienced, because he traveled on cargo ships. But when Enterprise launches in the pilot, I understood it was the first really normal warp-capable ship (Cochranes flight was only an experiment, not a normal transport ship). So, did the cargo ships use only solar drive to get somewhere? Where did they travel to, anyway? Are there already human colonies around? I mean, in ST:FC we see that Earth is devasted after WWIII, civilisation has fallen into ruins, and only small groups of survivors are scattered here and there. In a hundred years, not only has civilisation been reestablished on earth, industry and science is booming, they also have had cargo ships for the last 10 or 20 years. Or were those vulcan (alien) cargo ships? Just how many CARE packets with machinery did the Vulcans give to the humans to rebuild everything so quickly? Or is the degree of devastation in ST:FC exaggerated? The only solution I can come up with is that Merryweather travelled on some alien cargo ships. But how did he get elected to grow up on these? Can anybody clarify this, or will it be explained in later episodes? cottN on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 11:01 am: No, cargo ships were low warp (Warp 2 max, I think). The NX-01 is the first Warp 5 ship. LUIGI NOVI on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 1:53 pm: Act 1 of Fortunate Son established that Warp 1.8 and Warp 3 engines are available to freight runners. # John A. Lang on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 8:27 pm: If Hoshi is so "chicken", why did she join Starfleet to begin with? She should've known that there'd be dangers in space! Geez! Even I know that! And I'm not even an astronaut! constanze on Thursday, May 12, 2005 - 12:40 pm: I can think of several good reasons. If you look at NASA in the last decades, the first astronauts were pilots - macho males, hard guys. Then, it changed to scientists, and women. Now, when considering long range mission - 2 years to Mars or such like - one very important part of future astronauts is people skills (in addition to being scientist). Living close together for long period of time means that macho guys are a real danger and softies who get along well are an asset. Who knows in which direction this will develop? Secondly, she may well have thought she could brave and conquer her fears, only to find that she has bitten off more than she can swallow. She probably went through Starfleet training of some kind and wasn't kicked out, so she's not a totally wreck. And the Enterprise mission is very different than a slow cruise around the block to explore the nearby systems - she could've expected to cope with one, but not the other. Also, in the pilot Archer coaxed her into going because he needed her ear, and she's interested in going. (And her talent is pretty rare and unique). So she may have thought the thrill of discovering new languages may help her overcome her fears (if you are immersed in exploring strange new worlds, you're too absorbed to notice scary aliens.) Besides, in a dramatic sense, I really, really like it that for once a character isn't the gung-ho action-hero rushing-ahead-without-a-thought-for-danger type, but a real person. And her development over the next ep.s, the way she deals with her fears (and how the others try to help her) is very nice. # Cybermortis on Sunday, May 04, 2008 - 10:09 am: At the end of Broken Bow Archer tells everyone that StarFleet has decided that Enterprise is operational and ready to go exploring. Here we discover that the Enterprises targeting systems don't work, so they can't hit anything with their torpedoes. Later we will discover that the phase cannons haven't been installed. Put another way, Starfleet designs Enterprise to carry weapons on the not unreasonable assumption that they may have to defend themselves. Then they send the ship off to the territory of one of the most aggressive and warlike species they know of (the Klingons) without making sure that the weapons work. This is followed by them deciding that Enterprise is then ready to go exploring even though half the ships weapons are not installed and the remaining ones can't be aimed and are therefore useless. While I can see Starfleet deciding this wouldn't be a major problem on the trip to Kronos - Enterprise is unlikely to run into anything on the way to Klingon space that would threaten them, and since the Klingons know they are coming they are unlikely to start shooting at them. I really can't understand why they would not insist that Enterprise comes home long enough to install their weapons, or at least fix the targeting systems, before going off to explore. Seniram 16:48, September 3, 2018 (UTC) The Vulcans would probably come up with another ploy to stop them going out again! Category:Episodes Category:Enterprise